General Ironside
I have three things to teach you, kid: How to lose, how to cry, and how to die! Description Ironside is a general of the US Army who holds the coveted 5-star rank (a rank not seen since WWII) in Command & Conquer Generals Zero Hour: Contra. He's the general the player will face after defeating all four playable USA generals in challenge mode. His super unit is the Leonidas. History Not much is known about General Ironside, but it's presumed that he has control over NATO, as well as connections with the British Royal Army, which probably explains the existence of Challengers in his arsenal. Unfair Advantages Like most other boss generals, Ironside possesses some of the strengths of all other generals in his faction but none of their weaknesses. * Has access to three super weapons. * Beetle Mines allows Ironside to create AT minefields anywhere on the battlefield. * Powerful and balanced selection of vehicles. (Challenger IIs are great tanks, Humvees are excellent skirmishers when loaded with Missile Defenders. Mammoth Tanks are good at both dishing out and taking damage, Tomahawk Launchers are great at precision strikes etc.) * Vast selection of offensive General's Powers. * Decent airforce (Comanches are fragile but versatile, Raptors and Mosquito mines are good against aircrafts, F-117s are good against structures, Aurora Alphas available as early as rank 3). * Very powerful defences (Spider Web and Designator Bases were originally removed for balancing purposes). * EMP Tower is overpowered and is available at rank 3 without any tech requirements. * Can build Leonidas, the most powerful unit in Contra. However, General Ironside also has several weaknesses unique to him. * Cannot build security systems like other USA generals. * Both Spy Satellite and Spy Drone require unlocking. * Defensive structures are very expensive. * Has no sapper units. Arsenal Like other "boss" generals, Ironside has his own custom made army list. Infantry * Ranger—Basic infantry. * Missile Defender—Anti-armor infantry. * Pathfinder—Sniper unit, stealthed when not moving. * Beetle Mine—Walking AT land mines, uncontrollable, will burrow into the ground at the barrack's rally point. * Colonel Burton—Hero unit, a versatile commando. Vehicles * Dozer—Builds USA structures. * Supply Truck—Collects supplies. * Humvee—Light scout, has four seatings instead of five, has fire ports. * Sentry Drone—Scout drone, stealthed when not moving. * Challenger II—(British) Main battle tank, has good armor and firepower. * M270 MLRS—Artillery, fires clusters of unguided rockets, effective against hordes. * Avenger—The Anti-Air half of the original Avenger. * SLID—The designator/PDL half the original Avenger. * Microwave Tank—Anti-infantry unit, clears garrisons, same as the Laser General's. * Mammoth Tank—Super heavy tank, hailing from the first ever C&C. * Tomahawk Launcher—Long range artillery, missile hit vehicles accurately * MTHEL—Mobile Tactical High Energy Laser. Can shoot down both missiles and aircraft, cannot be built by the player. * Antares—Mobile Shield Generator. Can temporarily create a shield no missile or projectile can penetrate, cannot be built by the player. Aircraft * ABL—A C-27J Spartan modified to become an airborne MTHEL. * Comanche—Helicopter gunship, same as Air Force General's. * Raptor—Air superiority fighter, has two AA missiles. * F-117 Night Hawk—Stealth bomber. * Aurora—High speed bomber, cannot be intercepted until payload is dropped. * Mosquito—Anti-air suicide drone. Structures * Command Center—Builds dozers, provides radar and commands all general's powers. Provides one point of power. * Cold Fusion Reactor—Provides power, can be upgraded with control rods. * Barracks—Trains USA infantry. * Supply Center—Builds supply trucks and stores resources. * War Factory—Builds USA vehicles. * Airfield—Builds, rearms and repairs USA aircraft. * Strategy Center—Technology building, provides battle plans. Unlocks important upgrades and units. * Supply Drop Zone—Provides additional funds. * Grendel—Anti-armor defence. * Stix—Anti-air & infantry defence. * Target[[Target Designator| Designator]]—Fire base, summons an A-10 to bombard enemy positions. * Spider Web—A combination of a spider mine dispenser and a Patriot. * EMP Tower—Defensive super weapon, disables all enemy vehicles and causes aircraft to crash. * Tomahawk Storm—Basic super weapon, bombards designated area with Tomahawk missiles. * Advanced Particle Uplink Cannon—Tier 2 super weapon, standard particle cannon. * ICBM—Tier 3 super weapon, bombards designated area with a ICBM. * Leonidas—Ironside's super unit, the most powerful in Contra. Upgrades * Capture Buildings—Allows rangers to capture natural and hostile structures. * TOW Missiles—Gives the Humvee an additional anti-armor weapon. * Composite Armor—Increase tank armor by 20%. * Drone Armor—Increases durability for all drones. * Control Rods—Individual upgrade, doubles the power production of a Cold Fusion Reactor. * Supply Lines—Increase supply truck collecting efficiency, as well as money gained from oil derricks and supply drops. * Advanced Training—US units gain veterancy twice as fast. * Flash Bang Grenades—Allows rangers to clear garrisons. * Counter Measures—Allows aircraft to evade missiles and become 20% more resistant to AA weapons. * Laser Guided Missiles—Increases Stealth Fighter and Comanche rocket damage by 25%. General's Powers * Level 1 ** Spy Satellite—Require investing one point to unlock. ** Spy Drone—Summons a stealth spy drone to watch over the designated area, detects stealth units. * Level 3 ** Clustered Tomahawk Level 1-3—Launches a Tomahawk cruise missile which will scatter bombs all over the target area. (Can only be used by AI) ** A-10 Strike Level 1-3—Summons 1-3 A-10 Thunderbolts to bombard the target area. ** Paratrooper Drop Level 1-3—Drops Rangers and Missile Defenders at the area. * Level 5 ** High Explosive Bomb—Summons a B-52 Stratofortress to drop a fuel air bomb at the target area. ** Carpet Bombing—Summons a B-52 Stratofortress to bombard the area. ** EMP Bomb—Summons a B-1 Lancer to drop an EMP bomb onto the target area. General's Challenge Like most other boss generals, Ironside has three bases, the first one is located very close to to your starting location in the north eastern direction. The second one is located in the center of the map, guarded by an EMP Tower. His main base covered the entire northern portion of the map, guarded by a Battleship, two EMP Towers and a laser barrier. Like the other two boss generals, Ironside is not above unit spamming. Expect an endless torrent of armor and infantry pounding at your base. His forces will attack from the north and from the east, with more emphasis on the east due to the proximity of his forward base. The main challenge in taking on Ironside is a much shorter preparation time before he launches his assault. It's strongly recommended to capture the tech artillery platform located between your base and Ironside's small forward base, because if you don't, Ironside will send a ranger to capture it and things will get messy. However, sending a soldier to capture it is still rather risky as he will put himself within the firing range of Ironside's Grendels. So it's recommended to train up a squad of anti-armor infantry (RPG trooper, Missile Defender or Tank Hunter) and send them to demolish the Grendels. This will allow more space for base expansion and capturing the artillery platform easier. To make sure your defensive lines hold, build a good mixture of anti-infantry and anti-armor defences. And have a few fast strike units on stand-by to take care of the occasional M270 or Tomahawk Launcher. And keep a few stealth detectors around, because Pathfinders and Colonel Burton will attempt to sneak into your base. There are two enemy oil derricks located on the south eastern corner of the map, they are barely defended. If you have access to air transport or cliff climbing units like Rebel Bikers or Shandian APCs, it's advisable to capture them early on to secure additional funds. Ironside's small forward base is rather poorly defended, it's possible to send in anti-structure units like Dragon Tanks to burn down some of his structures and relieve some pressure on the front line. One should keep an eye out for his Designator Base, the area where the air strike will land will be marked for you to see. And if things go well, the A-10 splash damage might end up doing some of the work for you. Upon reaching Rank 3, Ironside will active his two super weapons: the Particle Cannon and the Tomahawk Storm. And a short while after that, he will begin the construction of his ICBM silo in his second forward base. He also has a variety of offensive General's Powers at his disposal: Cluster Tomahawks, Paratrooper drops and A-10 strikes. He will always use them to target the most valuable targets in your base, such as important structures and amassed troops. A durable super unit like the Suan Ni or the Zhu Rong can be used as super weapon lure, as Ironside will target it with his weapons, but usually none of the weapons are powerful enough to destroy it. Between his second forward base and his first is a small defensive line consisting of Grendels, Stixes and Designator Bases. His second forward base contains an EMP Tower, meaning that one has to rely on his/her General's Powers or super weapon to destroy it or send in an infantry horde to do the job. Should one choose the latter, it's advised to use artillery to soften up some of the base's defences as the Stix AA can easily mow dow your troops. Also, the base is guarded by several M270s which can easily reduce your soldiers to red mist. This base contains an unmanned USA Dozer, it's positioned behind a tech long range radar so one doesn't normally need to worry about accidentally destroying it. Capturing it grants access to the entire arsenal of Ironside's, including all of his super weapons and powerful units like Mammoth Tanks and Aurora Bombers. Before advancing to his main base, the player is faced with yet another hurdle: a Battleship. It will constantly lob barrages of shells at your advancing army as long as it had them in its sight. One can use air power, super weapons, general's powers or fast attack units to sink the vessel. The main weakness of the ship is that it cannot move and it cannot target units positioned too close to it. Once you have access to the EMP Tower, it's advised to build it near the only entrance to Ironside's base, this will pretty much deprive him of his ability to attack by disabling all of his vehicles. Without armor support, his infantry are nothing but sitting ducks. However, one should always have his/her troops cover the construction of the EMP Tower and guard it once it's completed as it's a rather expensive structure and takes a very long time to build. Then we come to the final hurtle: trying to get inside Ironside's main base. The only entrance is blocked off by a laser grid that will destroy any unauthorized unit attempting to enter it. The only way to disable it is to capture a Tokamak (labeled as the "Laser Control Center" in this mission) to deactivate it. The Tokamak is completely invincible which leaves the player no choice but to capture it. However, you only need to capture it once. Even if the enemy retakes it, the laser grid will remain deactivated. The Tokamak is positioned right on the edge of a cliff, guarded by a few Stix AA's. For Generals who have access to artillery and air transport, capturing the structure should be a piece of cake. However, the GLA will have to rely on the Rebel Ambush power. If you haven't invested your promotional points in that power, the only method you're left with is using Rebel Bikers. They can climb the cliffs easily, but make sure to destroy the defences in advance to prevent significant losses. * NOTE: You can skip capturing the Tokamak if you have access to Mammoth Tanks, for some reason, Mammoths don't take damage when passing through the laser barrier. Although Mammoth Tanks cannot attack air, the Stinger Drone upgrade can solve this issue. Two more EMP Towers are located in Ironside's main base. These, however, can be easily disabled, as instead of tapping into the base's main power supply, they're powered by several Ion Power Plants. If the player takes out these Ion Power Plants, the EMP Towers will be rendered useless and Ironside can do nothing about it. But even without the EMP Towers, one should always expect heavy resistance, however, a major flaw of Ironside's base layout is that most of his production facilities are located fairly close to the base's entrance. Should these fall, the rest of his base will follow soon. Once all power plants and production facilities are destroyed, Ironside will reveal his Trump Card: an enormous mech named Leonidas, the most powerful super unit in the game. Leonidas has virtually no weakness, it's armed with heavy cannons and lasers that can make short work of even the most powerful of armor, as well as missiles to fend off pesky aircrafts. It's armor is extremely resistant to damage. Most conventional units will not even have a chance to get in close and fire one shot before getting obliterated by Leonidas. There's literally no strategy but to throw everything you have at it. Before starting your fight with Leonidas, build up an armada of your best units and have all of your super weapons primed and ready, you'll need all the firepower you can get. However, there's one fatal flaw in Leonidas' AI: if it's surrounded by enemy units, it will often get confused and not attack AT ALL. So Mammoth/Overlord rush will slowly but surely destroy this giant mech. Once Leonidas is reduced to scrap metal, Ironside will finally admit defeat. And the player claims victory. Trivia * Ironside's portrait is actually based off that of General Thorn's. Thorn is the US Air Force general in Zero Hour's beta, his portrait is often used by the playerbase to depict General Ironside due to his menacing appearance. Category:American General Category:Boss General